Chapter 7, Joined

THIRD POV

/STILL A FLASHBACK\

After stretching with Ameri, they were about to jog when a certain ravenette approached.

"Hello, I'm Kuro Metsuhai. I'm what you call 'manager' of the team. I'm a third year," The boy said boredly without eye contact, and looked like he was forced to introduce himself.

He gives off a cold aura, and a michievous one.

"Pfft, I already know you," Ameri teased to piss him off.

He scoffed, "Shut up. I'm not talking to you," He crossed his arms as he glared at Ameri.

Shirome straightened up and looked at him, "Who were you talking to, then?"

...

Ameri bursted out laughing with tears in her eyes, completely giving up and rolling on the floor as her hands supports her stomach that aches at every laugh. The team snickered, along with the coach and super visor.

This made Kuro embarassed, his ears were red along with his face, his grey eyes were filled with annoyance and one was twitching.

The coach chuckled, "Well well, Metsuhai. Seems like you met someone that can deal with your shi-"

The super visor cut the coach as he was about to swear, "What he said," She said with a short glare at the coach.

The coach continued training the team after the glare, knowing that if you get the super visor angry, you will meet misery.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it to come like that," Shirome bowed slightly at the fuming coal.

"Honestly Metsuhai-senpai, you need to talk nicely to be treated nicely," Ameri said, regaining her composture.

He turned to her with a glare, "I was talking nicely-you know what, whatever. Just get out of the gym and jog," He turned away and was about to leave.

Shirome caught his hand in which he winced slightly but turned to give the girl a glare. Well, tried, to give her a glare.

Kuro was met with warm eyes, and a warm smile.

"Kuro-senpai, thank you for the help you gave to the team. I'm looking forward to working with you for the year," She flashed him a kind smile as she let go of his hand.

Kuro was burning, his everywhere was burning. He was super flustered, that his nose bled.

Shirome was shocked but reached her bag to give him tissues. The court was filled with laughter at the sight of melted Kuro.

The super visor giggled and pulled Ameri and Shirome out of the court.

"Hi there, I'm Ichiro Fuhai. I super vise the team and I also teach History for the 2nd years. Don't be afraid to reach out to me for help, I know these girls can be quite a handful sometimes. We were scared when the 3rd year captain retired after we lost last school year, so having a new captain – we were relieved. Not to mention, you can actually tolerate Metsuhai's snappy attitude. I really respect you," She said, ending with exaggerated tears flowing on her face as she figuratively prayed.

Shirome was shocked but Ameri just laughed, "Yeah, it's really hard to maintain this team. It's chaos without a proper captain."

"Why aren't you the captain then?" Shirome asked, curious.

Ameri waved her off as the super visor joined in, "Shinkui was a former setter but she wanted to switch as the libero of the team, she's our strongest at defense. Liberos can't be captains," She said.

Shirome nodded, "Alright. We have to jog now, we don't wanna miss out on practice."

"Ok! Just run 5 laps around the track, and then come back here," Ichiro said and went back to the team.

"Hmm, is it a long run?" The gradient head asked a frowning Ameri.

"The track is 400 meters, so like, running a lap is running around the track. And we have to keep it up for 5 laps," Ameri shivered and went to the track.

•

Shirome entered the gym with a big smile and released a big exhale.

On the other hand, Ameri was dead on the ground when she reached the gym, she was sprawled and wet on the floor, her face squished on the hard ground. Her eyes looks tortured and she was breathing really hard.

"Oh! You're back-Shinkui are you ok?!" The coach worriedly said.

"D-Damn....you.....Sh-Shi.....Shit," Ameri said at each deep breath, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"The run was really refreshing," Shirome beamed, forehead slightly coated with thin sweat, breathing normally with occasional long exhales.

"Shinkui get up, you're ruining the floor," Kuro rolled his eyes at her.

Ameri whined, "Shirome made us run 10 laps around the track!" She exclaimed and exhaled after.

"Sorry..are you okay?" Shirome worriedly asked her.

"OF COURSE NOT," Ameri exclaimed and pounds repeatedly on the ground like a child having tantrums.

Kuro had no choice but to help her, grimacing each time he stares at her. Eyes filled with disgust.

"Holy shi-" A ravenette girl was cut off by the super visor's clearing throat.

"That's an impressive endurance you got there, captain!" The coach complimented the small captain with a crooked smile.

She let her pointer finger rest on her neck, a mannerism she does when she feels flustered, "Well, my brother forced me to train with his variety of sports. Mostly soccer, so I'm kind of used to it," She shyly chuckled.

"Ooh! You play every sports?!" A brunette asked with interest.

Shirome shook her head lightly, "Not always, just when my brother comes to the house and train. I don't have an official sport. But since I'm here, this is it," Shirome explained earning praises from the team, she was really flustered so she looked away.

Kuro handed her a towel and a bottle of water, his cheeks have a slight tint of pink. But he still wore a glare.

"Thank you, Kuro-senpai," She flashed him a brief smile and rested on a bench, watching the team practice.

"I-It's fine," He stuttered and went back to jutting notes on his clipboard with a red face.

Does he have a fever? Shirome thought.

"Shi-chan! Let's test your skills!" Ameri called to her.

The team stopped and went on water break, the coach has his arms crossed and the super visor watching Shirome's every move like a hawk.

Shirome went infront of the net, accepting a ball from Ameri.

"Can you spike it normally over the side? Don't jump yet, just a normal spike," Ameri instructed her.

"Okay," Shirome said.

She put her left foot behind and the right infront. She raised her left hand, her right was holding the ball infront. Her posture was a bow and arrow kind, she learned it from her brother.

"Woah, I thought you were right handed?" Ameri stopped her.

"I can use both. I prefer my left because it's stronger, if it comes down at aiming I'll use my right," She explained. Her teammates were in awe, even Kuro.

"Ok! Spike it now," Ameri distanced herself to see Shirome's full posture.

She tossed the ball, unmoving, and slammed her hand in a horizontal direction.

The ball made it over with ease, but curved when it was about to hit the floor.

Shirome slightly frowned, "Was it supposed to do that?"

The team watched, amused but interested. The coach told them that they should just watch Shirome.

"For a really smart person, you're really dense on this sport. Didn't they teach you this? It's a float," Ameri frowned.

Shirome shook her head, "My brother didn't. And I usually just help around in PE. The people there keeps avoiding me so I thought they didn't like me or something," Shirome shyly admitted.

"Nah, they're probably just embarassed," Ameri waved her off, "Now do a jump serve. Jump, and connect your palm on the ball. Spike it over the net."

"Oi Ameri, you can't just make her do a jump serve on her first try," A brunette said.

Shirome felt determined and wanted to give good first impressions, "Sorry if it goes wrong."

Shirome sighed and raised her hand in the air, making everyone confused.

She was measuring her reach with her eyes, and with a few seconds, she imagined her jump serve.

She was a little confident about her jump, her brother trained her when they played basketball. She had a reach of 347 cm.

Finally, she tossed the ball a little high, slightly shocking the team. Few little steps and then a big step, she jumped high. Remembering the spiking position from a few years back, she stretched her left hand behind her head, her right hand infront facing the ball.

With determination, she slammed the ball with a little force. She grinned with joy as it reached over the net, the ball landed on the other side of the floor with a loud and heavy thud. It also had an unpredictable spin.

She landed with a squeak, glancing at Ameri who was gawking with wide eyes.

"Huuuhh?!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Shirome asked, oblivious to the decent jump serve she just made on her first try.

In a second, the team was in chaos.

The coach clapped furiously with a proud look, the super visor was still recovering from what happened, and Kuro's knees were dropped on the ground as he kind of looked relieved that they finally have a good server.

Shirome can't help but smile at them, "Please calm down," She tried to calm them down.

"Thank you for your nice reactions. It really boosted my confidence!" She beamed, making the team smile. Even Kuro had the corner of his lips turned up.

"That was really nice, Furumi. You jump really high too. It's straight out of superhuman characteristic," The super visor warmly smiled. Shirome smiled back.

"Do you wanna be a wing spiker?" The coach asked her as the team continued practicing.

"Um, what position can decide the attack for the team?" She asked.

"Hm, setter. Do you want to be a setter?" Shirome nodded, familiar with the word, "Okay then. About your jersey number, number 1 sounds good right? Almost every captain in Japan is numbered 1," The coach said. Shirome just accepted with a smile.

Guren sighed, confusing the super visor, Ameri, and Kuro.

"Volleyball players – or sports in general – usually work their asses off. But, once in a rare while, someone born a prodigy divides those who are born and trained so hard that their lungs almost give up – and those who are born with talent."

And so the day ended with a happy disciplined team. But Shirome was determined when she reached her house.

But she didn't know she was tired and worn out after a lot of moving and jumping she did. So when she reached the front door with her parents' and brother's proud faces, she fainted out of unexpected exhaustion.

/FLASHBACK END\

—

so yea, chapter 4. also the coach is hot-